Advances in high speed trains have allowed manufactures to create trains capable of speeds well in excess of 100 mile per hour. In order to accomplish this, not only have the power sources been increased in performance but other advances have been made in order to accommodate the increased speeds. Simple addition of more powerful engines is insufficient in and of itself to greatly increase the overall train speed because the older parts still used in the cabins and trucks of the trains limit the overall speed.
Several advances have been made to accommodate the increased power sources so that the cabins will present less limiting factors to the overall train speed. For example, the most common advances include tilting mechanisms which allow trains to tilt into turns so that higher speeds can be maintained on curved track. Other advances include different forms of track and truck connections such as magnetic and air levitation which greatly reduce the accompanying noise as well as preventing speed loss due to friction.
However, there are still many mechanical connection points in trains which still pose limiting factors which prevent the power sources from fully increasing the overall train speed to full potential. One such mechanical interconnection occurs at the meeting place between train cabins which are usually connected with a coupling device. The coupling devices currently in use have metal joints which allow some axial motion between each other causing imperfect connections which present limiting factors for the overall train speed. The currently used connectors are not capable of maintaining good connection at higher speeds. Also, the current coupling devices add to the noise associated with the train cabin connectivity, particularly at high speeds.
Therefore, a need exists in the industry of high speed trains to provide a joint for connection train cabins which is compatible with high speed connectivity and does not suffer from the traditional drawbacks of mechanical couplers. The present invention provides such a joint.